‘Disappointing’ defeat dents playoff hopes
A sharp through pass, a bending cross and a long free kick.
Each peeled open Houston’s defense as Nashville SC built a first half lead that ultimately toppled the Dynamo in a 3-1defeat at BBVA Stadium on Wednesday.
“Obviously really disappointed,” Dynamo coach Tab Ramos said. “I thought that this was the game that would get us back in the playoff picture. To be honest Iwas sort of counting on it. Disappointing, basically in 10 minutes we lost a game in the way we thought that we couldn’t possibly lose it.”
The Dynamo (4-7-7, 19 points) expected to face a defensive-oriented Nashville (5-6-6, 21 points) side on Wednesday. To their surprise, the visitors scored three goals in the first 23 minutes.
Forward Hany Mukhtar connected for the first goal in the 15th minute. With defenders closing in, Abu Danladi threaded a pass to Mukhtar which caught defender Kiki Struna flatfooted. Mukhtar jabbed the ball past Struna then angled his shot past Marko Maric for the early lead.
In the 19th minute Nashville’s Taylor Washington whipped a cross from the far side which found Danladi for a scoring header. Four minutes later, Mukhtar registered a brace after
Maric watched his curving free kick scorch the top corner of the net.
Ahead of Wednesday’s match, the Dynamo surrendered the first goal in six of its last seven matches. But a Dynamo team that’s shown the ability to produce points on the field, failed to come away with any in the standings.
“Today’s loss is not just another loss,” Ramos said. “I think this is a bad loss. We definitely have to analyze and look back and see
where things have gone wrong in such a big game.”
The Dynamo’s late efforts to climb back proved
fruitless. But leading scorer Darwin Quintero added to his season tally (seven) in the 75th minute.
A sequence that started with Quintero ended with the ball at his feet when Mauro Manotas tapped the ball out as he charged back towards it. Quintero rolled his shot past a sliding Jack Maher and former Dynamo goal-keeper Joe Willis for the goal.
The Dynamo have five regular season games remaining but have played more games than most of the teams ahead of them in the Western Conference standings.
They’re tied with three teams with 19 points, but
Colorado — the team immediately above them — has played five fewer games as it grapples with a COVID-19 outbreak.
“Wehave to keep moving forward,” Ramos said. “The games come fast. The only thing you can do is you keep going and you analyze which guys are doing the job and which guys are not, and obviously doing selfevaluation as well.”